Sandbach’s Heritage – June 2026

By Stewart Green

You wouldn’t think of Sandbach as a hub of the watch and clock industry but it has a rich history and many of its products are sought after on auction sites.

One of the earliest, Joseph Smallwood and his family built Longcase clocks in Sandbach before 1705 until after 1800. It is thought that Joseph Smallwood was an apprentice to a London clockmaker called John Andrews in 1698. John was a clock maker between 1680 and 1708 and collaborated with Edward Speakman. In May 1993 Andrew Hilditch and Son auctioneers sold a Joseph Smallwood Grandfather clock with brass and silver dialled movement dating back to 1705 and 1710 with the original case of this clock replaced in 1780. In 2007 the Dorotheum in Vienna had a tall case clock by J Smallwood made in 1800. In November 2024 Churchside Antiques in the inside market hall acquired an example of a small bracket clock made by Joseph Smallwood which is on permanent display in their unit.

Another maker in the 1700’s was Joseph Mason who made long-case clocks between the 1700’s and 1800’s and one was sold in 2024 for £2,200.00. Looking at the face of the clock it is similar in design to a Joseph Smallwood clock from that period so Joseph Smallwood may have been his apprentice or the other way round.

Thomas Bostock (b. 1805, d. 1884) and his family had a shop and workshop in Market Place, Sandbach. He was married to Sarah Chesworth Broad in 1829 and they had a daughter called Caroline. After the death of Thomas’s first wife he married Margaret Evans in 1837. A clock maker before 1834 Thomas Bostock and his partners made a clock in 1837 that was used in the Hope Street Chapel and was still keeping time according to a report from 1957.

Another family business was in Bridge Street (now 38 High Street) before 1822 and belonged to Thomas Leadbeater and later his son Thomas Leadbeater Jnr. A silver pair-cased verge watch or pocket watch by the Sandbach manufacturer Thomas P Leadbeater made in 1832 resides in the British Museum collection and was acquired from Christie’s Auction in 1958. The inscription inside reads Leadbeater and Son Sandbach No 498 and around the dial in the gold “Keep me clean and use me well – and I to you the truth will tell”. The watch dial and workings were made in Sandbach but the case (metal outer) was made by LH of Birmingham (West Midlands). The museum also holds a Barrel Bar also by Thomas P Leadbeater, donated in 1958 by Gilbert Edgar who acquired it from Courtenay Adrian Ilbert. The British Museum also holds a Watch Paper that was put inside the pocket watch to protect it and labelled by Leadbeater’s. An example of Thomas Leadbeater’s work used to hang in the Lloyds Bank in Sandbach until the branch was closed. The manager of the branch and various members of staff persuaded the bank’s headquarters to donate the clock to Sandbach Town Council and at some time the clock will be put on display.

There was also a Thomas Pace making watches in Union Street and finally before 1875 at 38 High Street taking over the workshop from Thomas Leadbeater was watchmaker Thomas Allcock who made pocket watches and lever fusee pocket watches, with known examples existing from 1867, 1875 and 1886. The examples from 1867 and 1886 sold at auction for £95 at Hanson’s Auctioneers before 2025.

Thomas was the watch maker who was asked to examine the Sandbach PC Green’s watch when his body was discovered in a canal after an unsolved murder. Thomas joined with his son Frank Allcock to keep the business going.

Town Clocks

• Hope Street Chapel Clock by Thomas Bostock.

• St John’s Church Sandbach Heath, donated in 1887 by Anne Woolley in memory of Charles H Richards of Brick House.

• St Mary’s Church Sandbach, the church clock originally had a stone face installed in 1892 by the Hon. H Holbrook J.P. the Minister of the Crown in British Columbia, Canada.

• Sandbach Town Hall Main Clock was manufactured by A and H Rowley with gas illuminations donated by Mrs Jane Court of Wheelock House in memory of her relatives the Peover family who had owned the house that had been below the tower.

• Wesley Avenue Methodist chapel has a clock donated by Edward Eardley in 1873. The actual clock maker is not known as E Eardley, a member of the congregation, has his name on it.

• Zan works in Wheelock recycled the old Brunner Mond clock when the factory was demolished in 1934.